Category Archives: Other Events

For those who are interested, or wanting to know a bit about Moto Guzzis, I’m planning a visit to the largest collection of the make available. This is a private collection by Teo Lamers in Yea, Victoria.
There are 3 floors of machines from inception to 1990, a total of 215 motorcycles. This visit will be held on the 27th October 2024. Those who would like to register to join us, and gain access, on a group visit. Text Martin 0413 058 600 for more info.

FOMSA are pleased to announce the weekly planner for the 2023 event:

Click here to view the 2023 Festival of Motorcycling Planner

The Lions Bike Show, held last Sunday at Macclesfield Oval on a perfect spring day, drew a very large crowd. Last year the event attracted 2000+ bikes, this year there must have been 3000.

There was a club ride which left Hazelwood Park at 9 am, but only about 8 or 9 bikes turned up. We set up at the northern end of the oval next to a huge Kawasaki display, celebrating 50 years of the Z1/Z900 model. Our group of bikes were such a sparse collection of machines, that a group of Harley riders decided to roar through us, no doubt mistaking us for a thoroughfare and were totally ignorant of any pedestrian who dared cross their path. The situation would have been improved if we had our club’s gazebo on hand.  I do recall that we purchased the gazebo for this type of event a few years back after many of our members were seeking shade from the harsh South Australian sun. A few more of our members did turn up, but by then we were swallowed up by the neighbouring  Kawasakis and Harleys amongst others.

Many Adelaide clubs attended: including Norton Owners, BSA Owners Club, Veteran & Vintage, BMW Owners, Vintage Japanese and the BMW Owners. The Kawasaki  Z Owners won the best club display and  the British award was won by the ubiquitous Vincent Rapide.

The most interesting bike I saw was this Yamaha FJR1000 framed Suzuki GT750 with a Triumph Street Triple front & rear ends, part of the VJMC display.

The Lions Bike Show goes from strength to strength every year and organizer Fred Keale and his team must have been delighted with the turnout and the weather.

If you didn’t visit Balhannah Oval last Sunday for the inaugural British Motorcycle Day, you missed out. This hastily arranged event was put together by the Festival of Motorcycling committee, partially in response to the cancelled All British Day held at Euchunga. The difference was that this was for British motorcycles only.

2022 is the 120th anniversary of both Triumph and Norton motorcycles and both marques were recognised by a large display of Triumphs at the northern end of the oval and plethora of Nortons on the west side. Opposite was a long line of BSAs and, interspersed were the Levis Club with some interesting old bikes and many sporting bikes from road racing to speedway. 

Raleigh and Scott 

Many of the bikes were started by their owners, much to the delight of onlookers. I saw the Levis Club’s JAP engined OEC running, Phil Baughan’s 650 TriBSA (which you may remember from a recent club meeting) and I even managed to cajole the owner of a trailered 1940 Triumph Tiger 100 to crank it up his engine too.

   The caterers at the northern end had to replenish supplies twice and the ice cream salesman was doing a roaring trade. Apparently, close to a 1,000 paid up visitors were in attendance – an excellent result, considering the limited time frame and opportunity offered to the organising committee. 

At the northern end of the oval was the DJ who did a fine job MCing the day behind his turntable and an Ariel Square Four. Lew sold out all his British Motorcycle Regalia and the COMCC stand was busy registering all the Show ‘n’ Shine entrants along with guarding the trophies.

Towards the end of the day’s proceedings, the judges had made up their minds which bikes deserved the  trophies and all the winners were lined up awaiting the presentations. I’m not sure who all the owners were, but there was an ES2 outfit, a BSA Firebird, a couple of Vincent V-twins, a Hurricane and Rob Elliott’s excellent Norton Model 18. It was a fitting end for Rob, as he was one of the main drivers and instigators for putting on the event in the limited time frame. Well done to all the organisers and the motorcycling public for helping make this event a success.

On a glorious Adelaide spring morning we attracted possibly a dozen riders for the trip to the Lions Bike Show at Macclesfield Oval departing from the usual spot ie. Hazelwood Park at 9 am. One of the more noticeable bikes was a Suzuki GS750 cafe racer, which sported some fairly chunky Hayabusa forks and a nice paint job, including the lovely retro ‘S’ Suzuki tank badge.

We took the most direct route – Mt Lofty , down to the Freeway, turned off at Stirling, through Echunga to Macclesfield. After an incident free journey we arrived at the oval, found Wayne Williams (gazebo transporter) and erected said gazebo along with a couple of club flags just behind the bikes. Quite a few of our members, who weren’t part of the ride, added their bikes to our display and there would have been possibly 15-20 bikes there at one point. 

This years Lions Show attracted many more bikes than in previous years. It was a perfect day to get out on the bike and mix with fellow enthusiasts in a spacious outdoor setting in the Adelaide Hills. A handful of local bands entertained the punters with a good mix of rock favourites. The coffee stand and the BBQ were very popular throughout the morning. Even the swap meet stall holders managed to attract my custom, for a change. 

The Norton Owners won the  Best Club Display with a fine row of mainly Commandos.  The British Triple enthusiasts had a good selection of Tridents, Rocket 3s and a couple of Hurricanes. Other displays from : Ulysses, VJMC, Harley, Choppers, V&V, Adventure Riders, Triumph Riders and COMCC lined the oval. 

I stuck around for the prize giving: V&V President Brian Forth won the Best American bike award with his Harley Davidson outfit  for the second year running and a splendidly restored 1927 Rex Acme TT took out Best Bike. The Lions Bike Show is going from strength to strength and the organisers would be delighted by this year’s turnout, which was reportedly just under 3,000 – a great effort!